Dad indicted for son's murder at the same time as funeral

TROY - Just moments before he was due to be arraigned in City Court, a Troy man was indicted by a grand jury Friday and charged with second-degree murder for causing the death of his four-month-old son.

Adrian Thomas, 26, of 21st Street was not allowed to attend his son Matthew's funeral in Albany that morning, which took place at about the same time a grand jury handed up the indictment against him.

Thomas was charged with attempted murder earlier this week for assaulting his infant son over the course of several days. The child sustained serious injuries from the assaults and was hospitalized for brain trauma Saturday and put on life support.

The charges were set to be elevated to murder when the child died Wednesday after being taken off life support.

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During a police investigation, Thomas allegedly told authorities he repeatedly slammed his infant son Matthew down on a bed and threw him into a crib as a way to take out his frustration with the baby's mother.

An indictment was expected to be handed up in the case due to its violent nature and for that reason Rensselaer County prosecutors opted to go directly to a grand jury Friday morning rather than have Thomas arraigned in City Court, said District Attorney Richard McNally.

"Something like this is done for several reasons: to avoid subjecting witnesses to cross-prosecution and to expedite the process," he said.

Thomas will be arraigned 9:30 a.m. Monday morning in Rensselaer County Court.